Good riddles can leave high school students both stumped and laughing. Trying to solve them and find the answer encourages creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It’s also a lot of fun! Want to share some with your class? Here’s a list of riddles for high school students to bring some energy to the classroom.
Riddles for High School Students
Which month has 28 days?
All months have 28 days.
A woman builds a house with all four walls facing south. A bear walks past the house. What color is the bear?
White. It is a polar bear since this must be the North Pole if all walls face south.
Which is the sweetest and most romantic fruit?
Honeydew.
I grow richer with alcohol but die with water. What am I?
Fire.
What do you break before you use it?
An egg.
What problem does a teacher with uncontrollable eyes have?
He cannot control his pupils.
What do you get when you mix sulfur, tungsten, and silver?
Swag.
Trees are my home, but I never go inside. When I fall off a tree, I am dead. What am I?
A leaf.
What can make an octopus laugh?
Ten-tickles.
How many books can you pack inside an empty backpack?
One. It is no longer empty after that.
I have hands, but I cannot shake your hand. I have a face, but I cannot smile at you. What am I?
A clock.
What kind of food do mummies eat?
Wraps.
I have no doors, but I have keys. I have no rooms, but I have space. You can enter, but you cannot leave. What am I?
A keyboard.
If you drop me on the ground, I survive. But if you drop me in water, I die. What am I?
Paper.
What has a bottom at the top?
Your legs.
You can hear me, but you cannot see or touch me. What am I?
A voice.
What is the similarity between “2 + 2 = 5” and your left hand?
Neither is right.
What sounds like a war machine but is a piece of clothing?
Tank top.
What is black and white and read all over?
A newspaper.
What has a thumb and fingers but is not alive?
A glove.
How can a man go for eight days without sleeping?
He sleeps at night.
You live in a one-story house made entirely of redwood. What color are the stairs?
What stairs? It is a one-story house.
What do you find at the end of a line?
The letter “E.”
Name three consecutive days that aren’t the days of the week.
Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
What is a snowman called in summer?
A puddle.
There are two fathers and two sons in a car. How many people are in the car?
Three people—a grandfather, a father, and a son.
What is full of holes but holds water?
A sponge.
My first letter is in chocolate but not in ham. My second letter is in cake and jam, and my third is in tea but not in coffee. What am I?
A cat.
A man shaves throughout the day, yet he has a beard. How?
He is a barber.
What has a head and a tail but no body?
A coin.
An electric train is traveling from east to west, and the wind is blowing from north to south. In which direction does the smoke go?
None. Electric trains don’t produce smoke.
Kate’s mother has four daughters: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and _____. What is the name of the fourth daughter?
Kate.
I can fill up a room but take no space. What am I?
Light.
Where does divorce come before marriage?
In the dictionary.
What starts with a P and ends with an X and has hundreds of letters in between?
A postbox.
It is lighter than a feather, but you can’t hold it for more than two minutes. What is it?
Your breath.
What type of music do rabbits like?
Hip-hop.
What gets wetter the more it dries?
A towel.
Which weighs more, a pound of iron bars or a pound of feathers?
They both weigh the same.
What has a neck but no head?
A bottle.
I am made of water, but I die when you put water on me. What am I?
Ice.
What is the ancient invention that allows people to see through walls?
A window.
What can’t be kept until it is given?
A promise.
What did the math book say to the pencil?
I have a lot of problems.
What gets sharper the more you use it?
Your brain.
A farmer walks toward his field and he sees three frogs sitting on the shoulders of two rabbits. Three parrots and four mice run toward him. How many pairs of legs are going toward the field?
One pair—the farmer’s.
What goes up but never comes down?
Your age.
What room has no windows or doors?
A mushroom.
Which fruit is always sad?
A blueberry.
When I am young, I am tall. I grow shorter as I become older. What am I?
A candle.
What has a mouth but cannot eat and runs but has no legs?
A river.
What is a teenager’s favorite phrase during math class?
“I can’t even.”
What has branches but no leaves or fruits?
A bank.
What has 13 hearts but no brains?
A pack of playing cards.
Which tree can you carry in your hand?
A palm tree.
If you are running a race and you pass the person who is running second, which position are you in?
Second.
When do you go at red and stop at green?
While eating a watermelon.
What is the center of gravity?
The letter “V.”
What has no beginning, end, or middle?
A circle.
What grows bigger the more you take away from it?
A hole.
I am smooth as silk and can be hard or soft. I fall but cannot climb. What am I?
Rain.
What did the angry electron say when it was repelled?
Let me atom!
What do you place on the table and cut but never eat?
A pack of playing cards.
What did the English book say to the algebra book?
Don’t change the subject.
What vehicle is a palindrome?
Racecar.
What breaks the moment you say its name?
Silence.
What becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
The word “short.”
During which month do people sleep the least?
February—it has the fewest days.
The person who buys me cannot use me, and the person who uses me cannot buy or see me. What am I?
A coffin.
Which English word has three consecutive double letters?
Bookkeeper.
You can hear me but cannot see me. I don’t speak until you do. What am I?
An echo.
What can you find in a minute or an hour but never in a day or a month?
The letter “U.”
What is the only English word with “ii” in it?
Skiing.
You are alone at home and sleeping. Your friends ring the doorbell. They have come for breakfast. You have cornflakes, bread, jam, a carton of milk, and a bottle of juice. What will you open first?
Your eyes.
What is the only English word with “uu” in it?
Vacuum.
I am hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget. What am I?
A friend.
I have seas with no water, mountains with no land, and towns with no people. What am I?
A map.
What did the beach say when the tide came in?
Long time, no sea.
When you have me, you want to share me. But if you share me, you don’t have me any longer. What am I?
A secret.
Find the number less than 100 that is increased by one-fifth of its value when its digits are reversed.
45 (1/5*45 = 9, 9+45 = 54)
What goes all around the world but stays in one place?
A stamp.
Forwards I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I?
Ton.
An apple is 40 cents, a banana is 60 cents, and a grapefruit is 80 cents. How much is a pear?
40 cents. The price of each fruit is calculated by multiplying the number of vowels by 20 cents.
What has one eye but cannot see?
A needle.
Everyone has me but nobody can lose me. What am I?
A shadow.
There was a plane crash and every single person died. Who survived?
Couples.
What invention lets you look right through a wall?
A window.
They come out at night without being called and are lost in the day without being stolen. What are they?
Stars.
What has four legs but can’t walk?
A table.
What goes up when rain comes down?
An umbrella.
I am your mother’s brother’s brother-in-law. Who am I?
Your father.
What has a tongue but never talks, and has no legs but sometimes walks?
A shoe.
I am a vegetable that bugs stay away from. What am I?
Squash.
Born in an instant, I tell all stories. I can be lost, but I never die. What am I?
A memory.
With shiny fangs, my bloodless bite will bring together what’s mostly white. What am I?
A stapler.
A plane crashed on the border of the United States and Canada. Where do they bury the survivors?
Nowhere—the survivors are alive.
What type of bow can never be tied?
A rainbow.
What can be found at the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, and the beginning of every end?
The letter “E.”
There is only one word spelled wrong in the dictionary. What is it?
W-R-O-N-G.
What begins with T, finishes with T, and has T in it?
A teapot.
What room do ghosts avoid?
The living room.
I am easy to lift but hard to throw. What am I?
A feather.
Which fish costs the most?
A goldfish.
How do you spell “cow” in 13 letters?
CEE O DOUBLE YOU.
If you multiply this number by any other number, the answer will always be the same. What number is it?
Zero.
How can you drop a raw egg from up high onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
Concrete floors are very hard to crack.
What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left hand?
Your left hand.
I have a head like a cat and feet like a cat, but I am not a cat. What am I?
A kitten.
Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it, you die. What is it?
Nothing.
What is the longest word in the dictionary?
Smiles, because there is a mile between each ‘s.’
You throw away the outside and cook the inside, then eat the outside and throw away the inside. What is it?
Corn on the cob.
Bonus: Christmas Riddles for High School Students
What do you call a person who is scared of Santa Claus?
Claustrophobic.
If a lion had a Christmas music album, what would it be called?
Jungle bells.
What keeps a Christmas tree smelling fresh?
Orna-mints.
What do elves learn in school?
The elfabet.
Which reindeer can you see in outer space?
Comet.
What is your parents’ favorite Christmas carol?
“Silent Night.”
Can Christmas trees knit well?
No, they always drop their needles.
Share your riddles for high school students in our We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook!
For more laughs and riddles for high school students, check out our favorite grammar jokes and science jokes!
